Sleeping on an overnight train is a relatively safe endeavor, but take a few sensible precautions to avoid pickpockets and thieves and sleep more soundly

A cheat-sheet of the most important things to know when riding the British rails

The U.K.'s main train lines

Like the trains themselves, European train stations tend to be clean and user-friendly—with tourist info, hotel booking service, left luggage lockers or offices, and decent snack bars (in case you forget to pick up train picnic supplies in town)

An hour from the seaside

There is no place in the United Kingdom that is more than 113km (70 miles) from the sea. The most landlocked place in all of Britain? Coton in the Elms, an English village of around 900 souls in Derbyshire, just NE of Birmingham.